kimball



UNrrEn STATES PATENT @Fmca.

HARRY AUSTIN AND LA VIRGNE J. KIMBALL, OF SAN FRANGlSCO, GAL.

PROCESS. OF PHOTOGRAPH-COLORING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 257,811, dated May 9, 1882.

Application filed January 4, 1882. (No specimens.)

To all whom Lt may concern Be it known that we, HARRY AUSTIN and LA VIRGNE J. KIMBALL, of San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Process of Photograph-Coloring and we do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

This invention relates to the art of portraiture and picture-making generally; and our object is to so treat a photographic pictureof any object that the effect will be quite natural and life-like of the object taken in color, as

Well as in shades and shadows, as a good oilpainting also, to combine with the picture a background which will set off the picture in bold relief, as will be hereinafter explained.

We are aware that paper on which photographs have been taken has been rendered semi-transparent by saturating the paper with Canada balsam, paraffine, and other substances, and that such photographs have been cemented on glass and painted on the backs 2 5 with colors. Such process we do not claim as our invention.

The following are the steps necessary to produce a picture by our process, together with the compounds which we use: We take a pho- 0 tograph of an object, or a fully-retouched albumen print of any size, and paste the paper on which the picture is taken on plate-glass with a cement which is composed of the following ingredients, mixed together in about 5 the proportions specified for each: amylum,

six drains; distilled water, six ounces; nitrate of strontia, six grains; granulated sugar, one ounce; gum-arable, one-quarter of an ounce. We press out all surplus cement, preferably 0 by means of a rubber roller, an(1 after the pa per is fully dry we remove as much of the paper fiber as possible by means of emery-paper, pumice-stone, or other suitable means, care being taken not to injure the film of chemicals 5 constituting the print or picture adhering to the glass plate. This operation leaves on the glass a transparent picture of the object taken in the camera, to intensify the transparency of which and give it solidity and smoothness of effect, as well as to protect the delicate film from the injurious effects of the atmosphere, the plate of glass to which it is attached is plunged into a bath composed of equal parts of parafline and white beeswax,

rendered fluid by heat, and all superfiuity of prefer should be very thin, and we secure this backin g to the picture plate by cementing strips of paper to the edges of the two plates. Upon the back of this second plate we paint the complexion, drapery, &c.,if the picture be a human figure, care being taken to accurately and sharply preserve all of the outlines of the figure. When this touching is finished and dry a third plate of glass, strip of wood, cardboard, or other substanceis added to the back of the second plate, so as to leave a space between the two plates, previous to which, however, this backing is painted or otherwise prepared to represent the background of the picture. This plate or board may be covered with a frosting composed of the following ingredients: Epsom salts, two ounces; distilled water, six ounces; gum-arabic, one dram. This compound will give a very fine effect to the picture, as well as a naturaldepth to the background. Instead of this frosting, a very pretty effect may be produced by substituting colored fabrics-such, for instance, as silk or velvetproperly arranged and stretched over the face of the backing.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The process of producing colored pictures from photographs, the same consisting of the following steps: first, in fixing the paper on which is the picture to a plate of glass by means of a cement composed of amylum, water, nitrate of strontia, granulated sugar, and. gum-arabic; second, removing almost allof the paper fiber by abrasion, leaving only a thin film adhering to the glass; third, coating this film with a hot solution of parafilne and beeswax; fourth, coloring the back of the picture; fifth, excluding air from the same by cementing another transparent plate to the back of the first and retouching in colors on the back 5 of this plate; and, sixth, applying a third plate or board set back of the second plate and frosted or covered with colored fabric, allsubstantially as described.

2. In the process of treating photographic 10 pictures to be applied on glass and rendered 1 transparent, the compound consistingot' am y- I lum, water, nitrate of strontia, granulated sugar, and gum-arabic mixed togetherin about the proportions specified.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as :5 our own we afiix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

HARRY AUSTIN. LA VIRGNE JOHN KIMBALL. Witnesses:

JOHN E. HAMILL, JAMES SMILEY. 

